The present invention centers on monitoring computer-mediated communication (CMC) toward identifying potential threats and implanting mitigating content to counter the ongoing narrative of the group/individual. The primary target of this invention is the monitoring of extremist/terrorist CMC toward the identification of patterns of radicalization and recruitment, the identification of threats based upon the findings of multi-variable threat matrix, and the implementation of counter-narrative messaging to dissuade users from becoming radicalized.
As western counter-terrorism efforts have limited the various person-to-person avenues for the spread of extremist ideology by outlawing ‘hate-speech’ in public forums, mosques, and in print, as well as identifying and arresting known terrorist recruiters, these communications have been driven underground and the investment by extremist groups in on-line forums and websites, and the level of participation within these websites, has grown substantially. Increasingly, those arrested on suspicion of terrorism or those actually engaging in terrorist acts indicate they began their ‘journey’ by visiting extremist websites, participating in chat rooms, and watching extremist and/or jihadi videos.
Current research suggests that behavior modification is possible via human-computer interaction. Further, the ability to socially interact on the computer has evolved to the level of real-time communications. This allows for iterative computer mediated dialogue to be considered an equal to face-to-face communication. This change in perception is critical to understanding the interactive effect of extremist websites, online social networks, and other CMC on individuals considered vulnerable to extremist radicalization.
The potential danger of online radicalization is highlighted in the United Kingdom's Strategy for Countering International Terrorism (March 2009). Noted within this document is the threat posed by “self-starting networks, or even lone individuals, motivated by an ideology similar to that of Al-Qaeda, but with no connection to that organization; and terrorist groups that follow a broadly similar ideology as Al-Qaeda but that have their own identity and regional agenda.” Further, the document acknowledges the role and impact of the internet in the “two way dialogue between their organizations and their actual or prospective members . . . that enables fundraising, recruitment, and some training and operational planning.” Previous action by far-right/anti-immigration groups and recent calls by extremist Islamists to move out of their password protected chat-rooms and expand onto social network sites like Facebook and Twitter in order to ‘appeal to the masses’, just as they have used YouTube to spread extremist propaganda, is a disturbing development given the trend of online radicalization seen in recent arrests.